I am really excited today to introduce you to a wonderful food blogger Rowena from Apron and Sneakers! I met Rowena from other blogger friends and I am simply amazed at her talent and ability to not only create unique and appealing dishes but to also capture them so beautifully in her photos. Rowena is a perfectionist and pays close attention to detail in her recipes and food styling. Her photos lure you in and have you drooling on your keyboard. Another thing I love about her blog is all the beautiful pictures of the country she lives in and one I plan to visit soon, Italy. Rowena has a very warm style of writing and you feel like you could come over and share a meal at her home at a moments notice. I’m so happy to have her here today on YMT and hope you add her to your list of favorite food blogs, you will not be disappointed but like me will find yourself wanting to jump the next plane to Italy. Thank you Rowena, for guest posting today.

Thank you Suzanne for inviting me over to your wonderful blog. This is my first time to guest post and I don’t think there’s another place to do it than in one of my favorite blogs.

To Suzanne’s followers and friends, hello to all of you! I am Rowena, the person behind the blog Apron and Sneakers. This little space at the Internet, which I call my virtual home, is all about traversing life in Italy as a mother of two small kids after marrying into an Italian family thirteen years ago. In every post, I share recipes, mostly Italian, taught to me by my husband’s relatives, friends, strangers, the local fishmonger, the signora next to me at the market or the local butcher. You can also find a lot of my original recipes after learning my way around the local ingredients, some from cookbooks and of course, I also have some Philippine recipes from my childhood in the country I used to call home. My husband and I are both travelers so you will get to know a lot of Italian towns that are off the beaten track, some restaurants to try and a little bit about history. I promise you, it’s not going to make you sleep! I built my new home with my family in Italy and I share all my experiences at Apron and Sneakers. If you feel like visiting, just hop on over and welcome!

There’s nothing more apt than to share a simple plate of pasta for this guest post. Typical of Italian cooking, the less ingredients you put, the better it is. So if you are thinking of putting together a pasta dish with ten ingredients, halve the number of ingredients to five and I’m sure it will come out great as well. Less is better. Quality speaks more than quantity. Those are the first things I learned about Italian cooking from the local kitchens to the high cuisine. I hope you enjoy this pasta as much as we do.

Directions:Step 1: If using dried porcini, soak them in a container with water overnight. Drain mushrooms and squeeze out excess liquid. Save the water where they were soaked. If using fresh porcini, take away dirt with a brush, with a damp cloth or under the tap quickly. Fill up a cooking pot with water. Add porcini. Bring to a boil. Transfer boiled porcini in a bowl. Save the water where they were boiled.Step 2: In another pot, boil some water to cook the pasta. When it boils, add salt. Add pasta and cook following the number of minutes suggested in the package or until al dente.Step 3: In the meantime, while waiting for the water to boil, warm up some extra virgin olive oil in a large saucepan. When hot, add garlic and onions. Toast until golden. Discard garlic.
Add tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add porcini. Cook for about 3 minutes.Step 4: Pour wine and put up the fire. Cook for another 5 minutes. Put down the fire to medium.
Ladle some of the water where you soaked or boiled the porcini. Season with salt & pepper. Turn off the fire when the sauce has thickened a bit. Sprinkle with parsley & parmigiano reggiano. Drizzle with truffle oil. Serve hot. Add more parmigiano reggiano if desired.Serves: 4

Oh you said it Valerie! Pasta can be monotonous but it’s staple at home because my husband and kids cannot live without them. So my job is to keep on coming up with new and classic recipes all the time! Thanks for dropping by.

I was talking to another Italian blogger the other day how Italian and Japanese cuisines are similar (who would guessed?) in terms of what we consider most important in our cuisines. We think simple cooking brings out the fundamental of the ingredients and how we care more about the quality than over flavoring the dish. I love your advice on 5 ingredients vs 10. 🙂 It’s always my preference because you want to taste the good ingredients and I really love this pasta. And congrats on your very first guest post. You’ve done beautifully, Rowena!

It’s strange isn’t it? You taste more the food and ingredients when you take away what is unnecessary. And the quality is foremost. Thank you Nami. You’re always nice. I’m very happy to be guest posting here.

Rowena this is such a lovely bowl of pasta – simple yet full of flavor. How fortunate you are to live in Italy. I spent a month there a few years back and loved everything about it especially the simplicity of the food and the most incredible tomatoes ever.

I look forward to visiting your blog. I hope you will stop by mine as well and say hello.

What a perfectly mouthwatering dish! What a perfect guest post and I agree with Suzanne’s opening marks. I am always in awe of Rowena’s photos and dishes – so much thought goes into each one. This pasta dish looks and sounds simply amazing!!

Hello wonderful ladies,
What an amazing guest post with amazing mouthwatering pictures from one my favorite bloggers! That pasta look so delicious and recipe is just full of flavor. Well done!!! I also would agree with Jen’s comment above, wish I had patter full of your pasta in front of me right now…hehe

Hi Suzanne and Rowena,
What a great guest post. It’s the simple dishes with a few ingredients that make a salad like this one so special. I could run in my kitchen now and make this salad, but I don’t have the ingredients. I love porcini mushrooms, olive oil and truffle oil, just delicious! Thanks

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